Study of the elongation mechanism of semicrystalline PS-b-PCL micelles during polymerization

WALTER F. SCHROEDER; JESSICA GUTIÉRREZ GONZÁLEZ; ILEANA A. ZUCCHI

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires

Simposio; XVI Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros - SLAP 2018; 2018

INTEMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Reported studies on self-assembled nanostructures with semicrystalline cores in organic solvents have shown that the crystallization energy from the core may result in elongated structures. Although little exploited so far, this mechanism has already been applied for the synthesis of elongated micellar structures dispersed in polymer matrices by replacing the organic solvent with a reactive solvent. In this work we plan to get valuable insight into the mechanism of formation/elongation of PS-b-PCLmicelles during the visible-light polymerization of styrene (St) as reactive solvent. The influence of the photo-polymerization temperature on the crystallization process of the core-forming block (PCL) was explored in a temperature range located below the melting temperature of this block (53ºC), in order to promote crystallization-induced self-assembly.